Lubricating system for vertical pumps



y 1933- c. N. BENSON LUBRICATING SYSTEM FOR VERTICAL PUMPS Filed Nov. 27, 1931 INVENTOR CARLNBs/vso/v BY ATTORNEY Patented July 18 19335 UNITED STATES PAT'ENTYOFFICE,

CARL N. BENSON, OF SCARSDALE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR r THE HESS-BRIGHT MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF LUBKICA'IING, SYSTEM on VERTICAL PUMPS Application filed Noveniter27, 1931. Serial No. 5715435.

This'invention relates primarily to means for lubricating a series of superimposed bearings mounted upon the upper end of a vertical shaft and is particularly designed for lubri cating the bearings at the upperend of the shaft of adeep well pump. p v

One of the objects of the invention is to provide means for automatically establishing a flow of oilover the'inoving elements of a bearing as, for instance,the rolling elements of an anti-friction bearing, and incidentally to pass the surplus oil from the first bearing to a second, and from that to others below.

A further object of the invention is to insure a copious flow of oil when the shaft is in operation, the speed of vibration of the shaft determining the amount of flow as does also the lack of rotation or vibration.

It is one ofthe objects of my invention to provide means which normally will not feed oil to the first hearing while the shaft is at rest, but immediately upon the movement of the shaft,whether in vibration or in rotation, to immediately cause oil toflow over the rolling elements. I r

The drawing accompanying this specification shows a preferred form of my-invention, mostly in vertical, central section, as applied to the upper end of the vertical shaftof a deepwell pump. 7 V a he type of pump upon which I have illust-rated my invention is driven by an elec- 'tric motor, the parts of which areconventionally illustrated at 1 and 2. Part 2- is secured to a short shaft 3 which is rigidly clamped to the upper end of a main Shaft section 4 by means of coupling members 5 and 6. These are secured to the shaft parts by means of a key 7. For'all practical purposes the shaft part 3 inay be regarded as the upper end of the deep well pump shaft, or, in'another aspect, it may be regarded as an assembly of a vertical shaft in itself; The shaft member 4- depends through a tubular casing 8 with considerable clearance at the pointillustrated, although according to the usual practice plain bearings are generally provided between the shaft and the casing.

The electric motor is mounted in a casing member 9 which rests upon and is secured to secured to a frame member 10 which rests upon the ground or some suitable concrete foundation.

The cover 11 of the motor casing-9 not only serves as a cover for the motor, but also furnishes a housing and support for the upper bearing of the shaft 3. In the illustration a cylindrical depending portion 12 is cast integrally with the cover 11, its inner walls being formed toproperly receive member of an antirfrictionbearing, in the present instance the outer race ring 13 ofthe caring which has an inner race ring 14 mounted on a reduced portion 15, of the shaft member 3, there being a ring 16 interposed between the inner ring l4: and the shoulder formed by the reduction 15. A nut 17 is shown for holdingthe inner ring 14: securely in place. 7 V The depending portion 12is furnished with a bottom closure 18 for affording an oil well. The closure preferably hasan upstanding flange 19 closely surrounding the shaft. 'j r i -The outlet from the oil well formed by the partsjust described is preferably below the-top of the upstanding flange 19, in the presently to be described.

preferably extends somewhat above the top'of the closure 11; The upper endof the shaft has a hole 23 drilled into it aifordingan oil receiving chamber. An oil reservoir 2i is'mounted on top of the closure 11 and has a short tube 25. running from. its bottom down into the chamber 23 and ending short of the lower end of suchchamber. V 1

Sufficient clearance is left between the outer, surface of. the tube and the wall ofv the opening or chamber 23: to permit a IEIGGuflOWOff oil. out of such chamber 23 and the outer over the top end 26 of the shaft 3 under running conditions.

The oil reservoir 24 must be closed airtight" and is shown having a closure plate 27 a it. The plate 27 isformed with a'filling opening furnished with a'screw plug 28. A window 29 is also afforded so that the upper starting the motor 1 60 the attendant may observe the height of the oil in the reservoir 24.

When it is desired to replenish the oil or for other reasons to stop the supply of lubricant a valve-is furnished for such purpose, suchvalve being illustrated in the form of a pin valve carried by a screw stem 31 passing through a downwardly directed'hub 32 formed on the casing 27. extends upwardly at 33 forming a box for holding packing 34 for the upper portion 35 of the valve stem, there also being illustrated a screw cap for holding and compressing the packing, thus forming a gland of usual construction. A hand wheel 37 is shown secured to the upper end of the valve stem.

The bearing comprising the race rings 13 and 14 and the interposed series of balls 38 is preferably located above the driving mech anism, in the present illustration the electric motor, and another bearing comprising race rings 39 and 40 and a seriesof balls 41, is preferably supported ina casing member 42 extending below and above a horizontal partition 43 formed withinthe frame member 10. The lower end of this cylindrical mem-' ber 42 is formed very similarly to thecorresponding parts for supporting and housing bearing. This latter bearing has its inner race ring 40 secured to the shaft below the electric motor installation.

The outerrace ring 39 of the bearing in this instance resting upon a shoulder 44 for supporting the down load of the shaft 3, such shaft having a shoulder formed b a reduction in the diameter of the shaft lllustrated at 45 resting upon the inner ring 40. The outer ring 13 of the upper bearingis free to move vertically in its mounting to accommodate shaft expansion or other upward and downward movements of the upper end of the shaft.

. A pipe 46 enters the housing member 42 Just above the ball bearing outer race 39.

This pipe 46 is connected by means of a pipe 47 to the outlet pipe 21 from the upper bearing. The outlet 48 from the housing 42 is below the bearing in such housing and preferably below the upper face of the flange 49 upstanding from the bottom'member 50. A pipe 51 leads from the outlet 48 by means of a pipe 52 which is associated with a nozzle 53 discharging into the open'upper end of the casing 8. 155

The operation of the device is substantially as follows: Assuming that there is oil in the reservoir 24 and that the pin valve 30 has been moved slightly from its seat, upon causing a slight vibration. At this particular period it will be assumed that the chamber 23 is filled with oil which has risen up on the outside of the tube 25 by capillary attraction, whereupon rotational influence of the shaft as well as its vibration will throw off The casing also.

and 2 the shaft 3 rotates .After bathing these rings and balls the oil passes into the lower part of the housing 42 and out of the discharge 48 and by means of pipe 51, 52 and nozzle 53 is discharged into the upper end of the casing 8 between such casing and the dependent shaft 4, and there oiling the plane bearings which are usually found below the ground surface in deep well pumps.

The feed of oil from the reservoir 24 into the chamber 23 is controlled in a well-known manner. Namely, upon the volume of oil in the chamber 23 getting below the lower end of the tube 25 air is permitted to pass up the tube which naturally displaces a similar volume of oil from the reservoir 24.

The amount of oil which will be distributed primarily to the upper bearing may be regulated by adjusting the length of the tube 25. In a machine having a great deal of vibration, or one running at high speed, the tube will be lengthened. For a quieter machine the tube will be shortened. The same eflec'ts may be produced by making the tube and the hole 23 of smaller or larger diameter that is for a high speed machine the tube and the hole 23 will be of small diameter. For a quieter running machine, or a smaller running machine, the diameter of these parts may be increased.

Although but one form of my invention has been illustrated, yet it will be apparent that changes may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:

1. In combination with a vertical shaft, a ball bearing mounted at the upper portion of the shaft, a ball bearing mounted on the shaft at a distance below the upper hearing and hereafter referred to as the lower ball bearing, the shaft having a downward extension below the lower ball bearing, a casing surrounding such downward extension into the shaft, its upper end being at a distance below the lowervball bearing, an oil well surrounding the upper ball bearing, an oil well surrounding the lower ball bearing, piping extending from-the oil well ball bearing to the oil well of the. lower ball bearing and the pipe extending from the well of the lower ball bearing and discharging into the upper end ofthe casing for the shaft extension, there being a vertical hole bored in the upper end of the shaft, a reservoir shaft, a reservoir mounted on the casin above the shaft, a tube extending from the ottorn of the reservoir and depending into such hole, and an oil Well surrounding the bearing, the organization being such that oil may descend from the reservoir through such tube into the the Vertical hole and rise therein aboutthe tube and pass out into the oil Well.

CARL N. BENSON. 

